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**DKB_SATX** · 06-03-2013, 12:40 PM

So, considering the list of tasks I've already made in my head, and the length of time it'll likely be before the new addition is ready for easy, comfy travel, I have named this one "il Progetto" in part to set the right expectation in my mind and my partner's.

Curiously, both my '75 Argosy24 and this new one were listed with no photos and fairly minimal description on my local craigslist. Weird coincidence?

Sunday 2 June I agreed to purchase (and exchanged a cash deposit for a written sales agreement for) a 1976 Argosy 28' Center Bath trailer north of Paris, TX. It's right at 150 miles from our house, so compared to the Kentucky Expedition it was right next door, and absolutely a night-and-day difference in the situation. The seller was quick to tell me "it ain't no cream puff" and he was not wrong, though compared to the disaster in Kentucky it's pretty close to cream-puff status!

Money-wise, this it its worst angle. That curbside rear pano is plexiglass, and the panel below it will need some expensive help. The owner before the current seller had put some sort of heavy rack where the bumper belonged, and the current owner just lopped it off, assuming (correctly) that it was bad juju and he reconnected the subfloor to the shell where the abomination had started to separate it. It's not the most professional repair, and of course the bumper is still missing but I have a plan.

The subfloor is mostly good, though there's some thin OSB laid over parts of it as a platform for carpet that the current owners replaced with stick-down tiles. It's fairly haphazard, so I was able to access the edges of the real subfloor in most places and only found real rot in an unsurprising place, between the rear edge of a wheel well and the battery box. It's possible there are some unpleasant surprises lurking under the underlayment, but probably (hopefully!) not in structurally-sensitive places.

The seller is a master plumber and has redone the previous shade-tree-mechanic nightmare of copper and various hose clamps and garden hose with well-done red+blue PEX with crimped connections. Unfortunately, he chose to retain the enormous electric residential water heater that occupies nearly all the galley cabinet and causes an external eyesore, but that's going. Anyone need an electric water heater?

As you can see, the owner prior to the current sellers really, really loves screws. He thinks they're wonderful. He likes ugly plumbing fittings, too, and apparently used regular green garden hose as his supply line in addition to his plumbing patches, but the plumber uses white hose and removed all the old stuff except the water heater (that he flushed before rebuilding the plumbing) so there's probably not much lead left in the lines.

It has an AC unit the works really well but drools on the shell, no condensate provision. It gets its power from a bit of maybe-20A extension cord wired into the box, so there's my excuse to go for a Marinco or Furrion inlet.

It still has a Univolt, and the dead battery was HOT, true to form.

I'm keeping the 24 at least until the 28 has run through my bank account and is ready for the road, so I can take time to do it right! And take lots of pictures, of course. Here's one last one of the "chandelier" that will be staying with the sellers, but the plumber has forbidden his wife from putting it into their newer trailer.

perryg114 · 06-03-2013, 12:51 PM

Looks like you have a project. Good luck on the rebuild.

Perry

mutcth · 06-03-2013, 04:14 PM

Congrats on the project. I'm waiting to hear about project Argosy #3, the window donor...

Tom

**DKB_SATX** · 06-03-2013, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mutcth

Congrats on the project. I'm waiting to hear about project Argosy #3, the window donor...

Tom

I'll post some horror shots if I get the one I'm going for. It's one I won't be sad to sacrifice for a good cause.

I'll own it long enough to get the useful stuff off it, and never bother with that pesky title business if I can avoid it.

Lance M · 06-03-2013, 08:03 PM

Congratulations! Looking forward to seeing il Progetto soon.

idroba · 06-03-2013, 10:19 PM

You MUST keep the hanging lamp! MUST, MUST. It is so classic and right for Progetto.

**DKB_SATX** · 06-03-2013, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by idroba

You MUST keep the hanging lamp! MUST, MUST. It is so classic and right for Progetto.

Agitator!

It's 120v for one thing. It's too late in the day to get into the aesthetic questions.

idroba · 06-03-2013, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DKB_SATX

Agitator!

It's 120v for one thing. It's too late in the day to get into the aesthetic questions.

Use an inverter, or I will send you a 12 volt 50 watt screw in bulb.

**DKB_SATX** · 06-04-2013, 10:14 AM

Ah, numbers are such fun.

I started on a rough "task list" at the level of remove stupid residential water heater, install RV water heater, install 2-way fridge, new axles, etc.

31 line items so far, and the rough estimate on the parts has pushed through the $6k mark. OUCH. Ah, well, you can do it right or do it cheaply, I plan to travel a lot in il Progetto so doing it right the first time will (hopefully) make for less headaches on the road or in camp.

desertair27 · 06-04-2013, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by idroba

You MUST keep the hanging lamp! MUST, MUST. It is so classic and right for Progetto.

Or you could always throw a disco ball in there!
Good looking trailer you got there. Funny you're going up in trailer size and I'm going down.
Mike

**DKB_SATX** · 06-04-2013, 02:14 PM

re: Going up in trailer size: Well, it's the smallest vintage trailer with pano windows front and rear. Besides, the sum of your trailer lengths is pretty long, I'll only be around 52 feet of trailers, with the 3 in your profile plus the Safari you just bought you're around 95 feet! Do you not have the trailer you took to the Balloon Fiesta anymore, or is it just not listed?

Sphere Guy · 06-04-2013, 03:54 PM

Congrats David! Now we know you truly have the "sickness" and belong to the MAOG.

bwoodtx · 06-04-2013, 05:02 PM

I will not buy another Airstream, I will not buy another Airstream..............

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!

Nice find, good luck on your restoration. I look forward to seeing it.

HiHoAgRV · 06-04-2013, 05:25 PM

il Progetto will become il Progetto Estenuante prior to completino...

**DKB_SATX** · 06-04-2013, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiHoAgRV

il Progetto will become il Progetto Estenuante prior to completino...

Vedi, non l'ho chiamato "il progetto corto". Spero che sì ma non ci credo. Forse un anno.

**DKB_SATX** · 06-05-2013, 09:25 AM

So, I've secured a donor trailer for at least the pano window and the bumper. There are probably a couple of other parts useful to me, and I'll offer the rest to others. I won't feel too bad about consigning this one for salvage and scrap, it's probably a step up for it. It's clearly been baking in the sun for a while, it looks like it's covered in chalk instead of paint.

The interior is even more of a fright, but I guess since I was looking for some specific parts to it, I didn't even bother to photograph inside. It's been gutted with a thick layer of plywood over the real subfloor, so I assume the subfloor is toast.

I got lucky... I don't think the seller even realized that one of the panos was plexiglass, but it's NOT the one I need, so the trailer is useful to me, but I won't have an extra pano to sell.

The small awning window forward of the door is a disappointment... I need that one, il Progetto's is plexiglass. I knew before going that this one was shattered, however... I think it'll be easier to find than the pano, since lots of different trailers used that one in the 70s. Anyone have an extra?

lcurrie · 06-05-2013, 09:55 AM

It may be time for you to admit that you're powerless against your addiction.

But since you have the donor trailer, if you have an extra knob for a dometic fridge in there, I'll be happy to take it off of your hands!

**DKB_SATX** · 06-05-2013, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lcurrie

It may be time for you to admit that you're powerless against your addiction.

But since you have the donor trailer, if you have an extra knob for a dometic fridge in there, I'll be happy to take it off of your hands!

I won't swear there's not an extra knob loose in there somewhere, but there's definitely no Dometic fridge. Nor, in fact, is there a 2-way fridge in il Progetto, yet! There's a very mixed bag of odds and ends in the Donor Argosy... most of the furniture/cabinetry is gone, but there's one overhead cabinet still attached at one end and hanging by a thread at the other. There's no range, but all 4 burner grates are there, along with the top piece to the range (in the shower pan.) And there's a Univolt, if you need an anchor for your kayaks...

desertair27 · 06-05-2013, 11:32 AM

So how did you find an Italiano Argosy in the US.

I may have an extra window like the one you need. Get me some dims and ill check it out.

**DKB_SATX** · 06-05-2013, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by desertair27

So how did you find an Italiano Argosy in the US.

I may have an extra window like the one you need. Get me some dims and ill check it out.

Heh... the Italian thing is entirely my own affectation, no fault of the Argosy. IL Progetto appears to have been sold initially to a family in Greenville, OH (about 15 miles from the factory in Versailles, OH) who had it at least until 1981, when the original owner bought a battery and saved the invoice. He seems to have saved most of the original docs, to my delight.

I assume the window is the same size as the galley window in my 24 (certainly LOOKS like it is) but to be sure I'll wait until I go to bring the trailer to Fort Worth on the 16th and actually measure the window to be replaced. If you want to get rid of that window sooner I can ask the seller to measure it for me, but I'd be happier making the measurements myself.